I’ve spent a lot of time and energy trying to encourage a love of animals and nature in my Okapis. We’ve been teaching them about animals since they were born and one of the ways I have bonded with them is sharing my love of animals with them both. But this vacation something special seemed to have had happened. We stumbled upon bird watching and had a glorious time of it.

I can remember being in fifth grade, and this is a big deal for me because I am really realizing how little of my childhood I actually do remember, and my teacher tried to instill in us a love for birds. She was an avid bird watcher and would take us on little walks around school and even challenged us to figure out what bird she kept on display in her class. I was also very lucky because my grandparents were also devoted bird watchers; they had several bird feeders in their backyard and my grandfather would trek out there in two feet of snow to make sure they were filled with food. They had binoculars and bird books and I learned a lot from them, things that I still seem to have retained somewhere in my memory-riddled brain.

In the beginning of our vacation, when I was having a rough time and trying to figure out how to get out of it, I woke up with my Okapis early one morning and took them out for a nature walk. We brought the binoculars and bird book my grandparents had bought Nana and started out mostly to spend time together. But then we came to a little grass and trees area and heard the sounds of one bird screeching. We tried to get closer to it, but it was hiding high in the trees (trees have leaves in Florida, green ones, even) and we couldn’t see it.

We decided to walk back home so we could pick up a paper for Nana, Aunt Deb and Gramps. On the way back, however, we heard the same bird call and then it landed on someone’s driveway. I stopped my Okapis and pointed the bird out to them. Then another one landed. While I looked through the book, Elijah checked one of the birds out with the binoculars (he carried them the entire time around his neck). I thought it was a Fish Crow and when I showed them the picture, we all agreed it certainly looked right. For the rest of the trip, every time he heard that bird call, he would say, “Daddy, you hear the Fish Crow?” He is so adorable.

We took a couple more Nature Walks. The second one was the best one. Not only did we see a Common Ground Dove and a Northern Mockingbird, we also saw a River Otter in one of the bodies of water in the complex my parents live in. It was incredible to see it swimming around, eating and then coming onto the bank and scratching its head and back in the sand. The excitement my Okapis had in telling everyone about that experience made me feel so incredible, so proud, as if I had made the river otter magically appear myself.

But I think the best part was when we went to the Ding Darling Bird Sanctuary. It is a large area that you can walk, bike or drive through and observe nature – especially birds. Unfortunately, it took us longer than we had hoped to get there and the Okapis were a bit cranky. But because we drove so slowly, we could leave the side doors of the minivan open so it was easier for them to see. Towards the beginning, I thought I had seen a beautiful white bird and pulled over. I got the Okapis out of the car, while everyone else stayed inside, and we walked slowly over to where I thought it was. Instead of the white bird we saw several other long-necked birds. We checked the bird book while we observed them looking for food in the water. It turned out we were looking at a Little Blue Heron and a Reddish Heron. Then all of a sudden the white bird appeared in front of us and we saw a Snowy Egret. We spent the rest of our drive through the sanctuary stopping to see and identify as many birds as we could. We even started to note when we saw the birds on the pages in the book. It felt like our whole family was getting into it, searching for birds, learning what they were and observing differences between similar birds.

It was truly a pleasant surprise in our vacation, but it also has made me realize that this opens up a whole new area for activities with my Okapis; Los Tres Amigos Sabado could also include Nature Walks and bird watching. I’ve started to think about getting a new set of binoculars for us as well as a bird book for us to have up here as the birds come back and get ready for summer.

For some strange reason, I am always surprised how easy it is to connect with my Okapis when we are doing something I am passionate about, how much my excitement and interest affects them, captures their attention and makes the whole experience better than I ever remember.

Many of you may recall the traveling cow project from a number of years ago. You know the one where local groups painted the cow sculptures and they were diisplayed in major cities and other locales before being auctioned off.

Anyhow one of those cows still resides in the local school.  The cow stands in the school building by a window facing out towards the street and is painted like a NYC cab. Hey this is New York.

About once a week if not more often my kids walk past the cow while heading back and forth from the various playgrounds. It’s become a sort of tradition for my daughter, and son, but primarily my daughter to ask where is the cow before we pass it.

Lately the cow has been decorated with some sort of a costume where the kids in the school have placed a sort of grass wig on the cow’s head. Unfortunately the site of our NYC cab themed cow with a grass wig freaks my daughter out. Now when she sees it her innocent ritual leads to a screaming breakdown.

Somehow I need to ask that the cow be given a shave any a haircut so my daughter does not go nuts. Only in New York.

There are so many things to write about. I could talk about how I won’t see my daughter, Claire, for three weeks this summer or how we’re trying to potty train. The girl hates to wear any pants at all now, but I bet the whole going away for several weeks would be a better topic. I’ve written in the past about what it’s like to leave your child for such a long time, and, unfortunately, there are fathers out there kept from their children longer. My wife and I are taking a group of kids to Europe this summer, and we obviously can’t take our daughter, so my wife is flying her to the grandparents. Fortunately for both of us, all four grandparents live near each other. The parents are very different. Mine are more laid back and unorthodox while sometimes hers are almost too conservative, but the thing they all have in common in that they adore Claire.

My dad likes to take her places to spend time with her (like to the zoo or amusement park) while my wife’s parents are happy having Claire in their house. She will stay with them though, since there’s more room, and no animals. She’ll go to the Jersey shore and up to see her great grandparents while she’s home.

Of course I will be thousands of miles away with my wife. Two things we did to prepare for that are 1) made our wills, finally. 2) We got an international cell phone. Sprint said they could do this for us, and then they said they couldn’t. Now I really like Sprint, but that’s odd. We went with a company called PlanetFone out of the UK and they seem reasonable. We also got a limited medical power of attorney for Claire. You know, I really don’t mind traveling (I actually love it) but it’s very odd to leave my 2 year old for so long, and without her mother being with her. I am more concerned that we’ll worry each other more than to comfort each other. And my wife flies back to the grandparents to pick up my daughter and fly her home a few days before Father’s Day, but of course there return flight is after Father’s Day, so that’ll be hard on me too. 

As we were driving back from a long week-end of camping, campfire, drinking and gambling I turned to my spouse and asked, “Hi! What’s your name?” We both laughed knowing full well it wasn’t funny.

I am unsure if I am the only one living this so I am asking.  Do you have any ‘what’s your name’ moments?

This weekend was a long weekend in Canada.  We took the RV (father, mother in law, brother in law/wife, and myself/spouse/2kids) to Niagara Falls in the Jellystone Camping ground which is proudly supported by Yogi the Bear and the bunch.  We visited Marineland and took some rides with the kids… just fabulous for the kids.

On the first day, my spouse cleaned up after breakfast and took out a book while I headed to the playground.  I had a great time with the kids and she was able to relax, prepare dinner and such.  In the afternoon, she put the kids to bed while I sneaked in the campground playroom as it was nice outside; there were no kids in the place.  We played poker, had some beers and cheered when my beloved Senators scored in overtime.

When the night came, I offered my wife to take the night with the rest of the family to the Casino while I did a campfire with the kids.  She did the same the following night.

To tell you the truth, I had a great weekend. However, I find it almost impossible to be everything and who takes the hit first but the one I take for granted the most… my spouse. 

We spoke about it and she felt the same.  We often take vacations by ourselves but find it real hard to make time when we are with the kids.  They are age 1.5 and 4.

Me and the little guy are about to enter the roller coaster ride on the picture… I was shouting and I wasn’t sure if he was crying or shouting while we rode the kiddy roller coaster… I only found out when we walked out of the cart and he said...again.

Do you ever have days when it feels as though time is slipping away like sand between your fingers? I had a reality check this morning as to just how old I’m getting.

30 years ago today - May 25, 1977 - the movie Star Wars was released in theaters nationwide. At that time, a gallon of gas only cost around 64 cents, the minimum wage was $2.30 an hour and Elvis Presley, who turned 42 that year, had less than three months to live.

I didn’t catch the movie on opening day but this then-14-year-old with an insatiable thirst for anything science fiction did view the cinematic marvel on a big screen.

Yep, I do own a copy of the original and have watched it many times over the years. I have not yet introduced our 5-year-old daughter to Luke and Princess Leia although we have watched Revenge of the Sith together. On a side note and in my most humble and personal opinion, the three latest movies don’t hold a candle to the original trilogy.

Recently, our family was traveling in the car and I made a reference to Darth Vader. From the back seat, our daughter asked, “Did you say ‘dark mater’?” My wife and I laughed so much about her mispronunciation that there’s no way she’ll say it correctly now.

So fess up. Did you see Star Wars in the theater when it was originally released? Am I the oldest one here?!?